Foolkiller's C2E2 (with pics)

[Foolkiller]

Unfortunately, I'm back out on the road again... so I can't scan my purchases this time, but I do have plenty of pics from the show uploaded.

 

Going into this con I was determined that I was going to relax a bit more because of heavy travel schedule etc. and so I wasn't going to be focused on buying every book in sight, but instead on seeing what the con had in the way of artists and exhibitors, as well as the normal perusal of vintage material.

 

My overall impression of the show was basically this: for the fans who wanted to see artists and participate in the "cool" aspects of what Marvel, DC and other vendors had to offer, this was a great show. Artist's alley was wide and spacious. I found every artist I approached to be friendly and open. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed my time there (special thanks to Jon Jesperson and Doug Mahnke -- who I'll get to later).

 

As for the vintage end, well, as always, there were plenty of deals but I found very little that was exciting. I was late to the Steve Rogers party and even though I could have picked through the leftovers, I was not all that inspired to do so. I actually did pull a stack but didn't get back there by Friday evening and so on Saturday it was already worked back in and I just didn't have the energy to repull the books, so I just let it go. What was left over was still good material, and I am quite certain that many boardies got some good deals (as well as the swarm of dealers that descended upon him). I was there at 2 PM on Thursday -- it was eaten through already by the dealers. I'll get into this more later. Bottom line is that I wasn't blown away by anything "new". Storms had a new collection, and I think he did well. Ted VanLiew brought some new stuff and I think he did okay. I think a lot of dealers had okay shows, but were expecting real gangbusters, which it was not.

 

I was in Chicago starting Tuesday night for business, so apparently, I should have gotten there earlier if I wanted to beat the bushes for great books. I was very content with what I did purchase though.

 

Thursday

 

I had a speaking engagement in Indiana on Thursday so I wasn't able to arrive at the show until 2 PM. I went and picked up my badge first. I thought, as others have mentioned, that the hall in C2E2 was fantastic. The facility itself was wonderful. The other trade show going on was the Kitchen Bath Industry Show, and to be honest, I saw very little gawking and staring. Most of those con goers just kept on moving along. During the set up, I did hear some complaints about the way in which it was organized and some other small issues, but for the most part, I heard that set up seemed easy.

 

I wandered around the con and the first thing I heard about was Steve Rogers (from Aurora, IL) who brought this killer new collection. I went over to look and had mixed feelings. I immediately recognized the tags. First, Captain Jack's last year at WW Chicago had bought out all of the stock that Steve brought the year before. And I was first to go through that. Now, as other boardies will remember, there was some killer stuff in that collection. I bought a ton of it -- but as I later found out, I had a bunch of wins that made it more than profitable but... there were some books that had undisclosed resto (that I'm sure he just missed) on several books (so inspect those books carefully!). Second, when I saw all of the dealer's piles stacked around, I knew I was late to the party and this wasn't a deal I could get in on at the ground floor. What Steve had were tons of books that were absolutely worth buying that had terrific eye appeal, but maybe not super structure. The best books were mostly gone, but there were gems to fish out and many more patient board members did so. I on the other hand, was less patient and just moved on.

 

I continued to chat with a few dealers, saw Matt Nelson, Steve Ritter, Vinny, Bob Storms, Spidey on tilt etc. I only wanted to stay a couple of hours -- so I got out of there quickly as soon as I felt I had the lay of the land.

 

 

 

Will post Friday (with more pics) later this evening...

[Foolkiller]

Friday

 

I woke up on Friday very, very excited about this show. I was energized and wanted to see to see what was out there. On Friday morning from 10 AM to 1 PM was set up and entrance to professionals only. This is generally one of the best times to take in the show. What should have been done is two-fold for those holding VIP tickets: 1) early entrance and entrance during the professional hours and 2) they should have gotten a set of those Blackest Night figures they had a drawing for instead. Sorry, if you plunk down $200 the least they can do for you is give you a couple of limited figures. They had a big sign that said: ON SALE HERE for the variant figures, then told me they were having a drawing. In fact, they could have done that AND given figures to VIP ticket holders.

 

Anyway, the set up was beautiful... here are some shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon, while wandering the floor, I ran into this young lady dressed up in a killer Black Widow costume. She's one of the few girls who actually pull this off. I thought both the costume and she were tremendous. If you didn't see her, you really missed something.

 

 

For a stark contrast, I ran into these two guys early on Friday morning, thankfully, as you can see above, my day got better.

 

 

Here's John solo. Dude, do you wake every day and wonder, why did I leave the sunshine and hot girls in California for the murdering streets of Killadelphia? The blank look says it all.

 

 

More on Friday in a bit...

 

 

[Foolkiller]

As I wandered around Friday, I spent a lot of time chatting with this guy, my buddy Dave Miller.... smilin' (or stoned) Dave Miller...

 

 

Also my con traveling partner Mary Ann -- who I don't get see as much, but is always fun to hang out with -- one of the most knowledgeable fans out there (even on vintage stuff). Forgot to mention, we ate at Morton's on Thursday, it was an awesome steak!

 

 

So here's my take on Friday sales. I didn't see a lot of activity in the room, even following 1 PM. It was really sort of dead. Where I found my best deals were from small local dealers. They had a lot of books I hadn't seen before, and many good deals -- more importantly, they were willing to wheel and deal.

 

There were many old school dealers with old school grading there that were complaining about slow sales. My response is that either the inventory wasn't there or the prices were too high. Those dealers who had decent inventory and knew how to grade seemed to well. And those weren't doing great in sales sure seemed to find plenty to buy. Dale and Harley seemed to have okay shows, but I saw them hustling all weekend buying books up. Al Stoltz/Jeff Weaver same thing, they hustled and seemed to be having a good time, despite it being a bit slower than they hoped. There's a variety of things that probably led to this, not the least of which is simply that the dealer's prices were just too high on many books that are stale inventory. Those dealers that have adapted to new pricing on mid/low grade books have probably done a bit better. If you have "A" list inventory, you do well at these shows, so long as the prices are competitive.

 

One dealer who was sharing some space put up a number of gorgeous books but the prices were astronomically high. While you can price the books how you like, it certainly scares paying customers away when you see insanity. I know I am.

 

I bought plenty of books, but I am more and more discerning about who I am willing to spend money with. While to some degree I'm like everyone else looking for the best deal, I like to spend money with certain dealers and will go out of my way to do so. At the end of the show, I could have loaded up with a big stack of "leftovers" from Steve Rogers, but chose not to because I feel if someone pulls a stack and tells you, they'll be back the next day, you ought to keep their 12 or 15 books in tact. Since he couldn't be bothered, I couldn't either. Sure he sold everything to someone else, but I decided some of my thousands of dollars could be better spent with Joe Verenault, a dealer who I really like and respect. I wouldn't hesitate to deal with Steve Rogers in the future, but I feel that it is important to speak with your dollars. It's the only voice we have as consumers.

 

Just a side note, I guess posting my 10 best list for dealers gets read -- by the other dealers -- since almost every dealer I know (both on the list and on the honorable mention list) seemed to want to rib me about something I said on it.

 

Here's one of the boardies I enjoyed seeing on the con floor... Billy the Kid and his girlfriend... she looked like she might have hurt her foot, but she was still trekking around with him. Devotion (psst, if you get married, she may not trek around any more).

 

 

I wish I snapped more pictures of other boardies, but figured others would do so.

 

I ran into a ton of them, and really enjoyed spending some time chatting with all of them especially guys I don't get a chance to see that often like Greggy, Tuppeny, Billy the Kid, Transplant, MLatko, Bomber-bob etc.

 

Here's Kevin Boyd sporting his Fan Expo shirt... what an advertising whore.

 

 

I did buy some stuff Friday, but I'll go through the purchases as I show the pics of the dealers later.

 

I had some lunch at McDonald's (which was convenient)... then went back and wandered the show. Ted's helper Jose had a place that he was very interested in for dinner so a group of us were planning to go there. I probably should have gone to Brad's (klodz's) poker game in retrospect, but I didn't need a rental car as I thought I would and the idea of busting out and waiting 5 hours or something wasn't appealing to me at the time. Sadly, you can hear a different kind of bad beat story later.

 

Here's some more pics from the afternoon...

 

There was a great view out the back of the convention center. Beautiful place, beautiful city. I love the show downtown.

 

 

 

Star Wars everywhere...

 

 

Harley Quinn...

 

 

The Batmobile...

 

 

So for dinner, a group of us, Ted, Jose, Bob, John, myself, Vinny, Frank, Dave Miller, Matt Nelson, his friend (blanking on name) and Mary Ann all went to dinner. I thought the food was okay, but it was great hanging out with everyone.

 

So after dinner, Bob, John and I have the bright idea to go out to the Horseshoe casino in Indiana. Cost a bit to get out there by taxi, and when we got there, it was PACKED. Bob spent the time playing craps, while John and I waited for poker. So we had a few drinks, then I finally made the 2-5 no limit list. John was still waiting for 1-2 no limit. I sat for about 45 minutes and then John sat down. He busted out in like 20 minutes on some bad beats... and then about 15 minutes later I lost on an all in call with a full house. Sweet. Full house over full house.

 

Anyway, after waiting 40 minutes for a cab, we finally got the one we called, and the driver starts talking about getting robbed or shot or something. Bob proceeds to tell the guy, we're from NY. I.e. stop talking. At any rate, eventually the guy got the hint after prattling on and Bob completely blowing him off.

 

Got in at 2:20 AM, went to sleep.

[Foolkiller]

Saturday

 

Woke up around 8 AM Saturday only to find that my bank slapped a fraud alert on my ATM account so I had to straighten that out. After a brief phone call, stumbled out to Starbucks, got some breakfast and headed to the con. Arrived and the first order of business was to snap some pics of some folks with the gift Carbo provided to Vinny for his wedding:

 

 

 

 

That's greggy who doesn't take his mask off -- and Joey who shall not be disturbed from looking at books.

 

 

A few more cool things from around the show....

 

 

 

 

 

Spider Woman....

 

 

Batwoman...,

 

 

The Legion... but these gals were super nice.

 

 

This costume was pretty cool...

 

 

I really liked this Poison Ivy...

 

 

Supergirl was very photogenic and really liked having her picture taken

 

 

 

Snow White was my absolute favorite girl at the show....

 

 

However, and you'll have to ask silverandbronze about this, there was a very attractive young lady set up across from him all weekend. She wore some low cut shirts to have what I'll call the "Giada" effect. I'm not sure how it worked out... but a lot of guys walked by that booth a few times I'm sure.

 

Pic of Paul and the tumblers, no pic of the young lady.

 

 

These zombies were very cool...

 

 

More from Saturday in a bit...

 

 

[Foolkiller]

More costumes --

 

Iron Woman -- I thought this was one of the more ingenious costumes of the show, she made it herself, and did a fantastic job. Cute too.

 

 

This Poison Ivy was a bit more -- ah -- revealing... the Joker had a great costume.

 

 

Hawkeye

 

 

Lineup at the costume contest...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whisp is that you?!?!?

 

 

I'll let flee and others have fun captioning this picture...

 

 

Next up dealers and purchases...

[Chespirito]

That was one hell of a report!! Thanks dude!

[Subliminal]

He is not done yet! !

[Foolkiller]

Onto the dealers... Richie Evans

 

 

Sol from Odyssey...

 

 

My buddy Ben Lichtenstein... owner of Zapp Comics in New Jersey

 

 

I don't remember this guy's name but I bought some books from him...

 

ASM 50 NM-

Showcase 22 G/VG

ASM 36 NM-

ASM 62 NM-

 

(Harley picked up a Hulk 1 in Fine among other things)

 

 

Shelton Drum's set up

 

 

Joe Verenault... purchased the following:

 

Subby 1 NM/NM+

ASM 16 VF

Tec (can't remember the #s, but in the 1950s era with sick colors) Fine

and some other really, really nice books.

 

 

Terry O'Neill -- love Terry, just couldn't find anything this go around.

 

 

Dave Kapelka... nothing this go around, but super guy

 

 

Steve Ritter -- same deal as the last two, but always has tremendous material

 

 

Dennis Kuem from Fantasy Comics, super nice guy, loved talking to him, he stepped out of the way as I took the pic of his booth.

 

 

Al Stoltz, stand up, super guy. Bought an ASM 121 and Avengers 6 from Al. The ASM 121 is just a stunning copy.

 

 

Teddy! Bought from Ted:

 

JIM 83 6.0

TOS 58 8.5/9.0

JIM 94 8.5

JIM 112 9.0

 

 

Not a dealer but here's a pic of Jon Jesperson and Doug Mahnke. Thanks for the sketch and one of the highlights of the convention...

 

 

 

[Detroit MIke]

more comics, less fat jokes.

[Foolkiller]

Here's a pic from the show floor on Saturday in the dealer area at 4:30 PM

 

 

On Saturday night, went out with Roy, Jim, Louise, Drew, Transplant, John, Mary Ann, Storms, Dave Miller and Andre Zilli.

 

Andrew spend Saturday trying to find each other but didn't meet up til the end to finish up our transaction I kept delaying for three days.

 

Anyway, we all went to dinner where Andre graciously picked up the check (thanks again!)

 

Another awesome night continued when we went to the Hyatt...

 

I thought about going back Sunday morning but decided hanging out with this guy was better:

 

 

 

And that's the end...

 

p.s. Detroit Mike, fat jokes only inserted because people are wearing spandex. Otherwise, no jokes for the overweight.

[thehumantorch]

Great report and pics.

[Foolkiller]

One last pic, these kids had the best costumes I thought at the show:

 

[bryan91]

Great report and great pictures. I was hoping to meet you at the poker game, but that just didn't work out. Thanks for taking the time to post up a report.

[lizards2]

Thanks for the report, Brian. Obviously a lot of work, and a labor of love to put this together for the rest of us :thumbsup:

[Foolkiller]

Great report and great pictures. I was hoping to meet you at the poker game, but that just didn't work out. Thanks for taking the time to post up a report.

 

Karma was a killer on that one. I have learned never to flake on an event sponsored by klodz again.

[toro]

 

 

 

Perfect 10.0 Gem Mint!

 

 

Nice report Brian!

[Subliminal]

more comics, less fat jokes.

 

 

I love looking at wall shots but then when I see one of these small dealers and try to find if they have a website I find nothing like Odyssey Comics.

Now I realize some of them are small time dealers without websites I can browse but they really should be encouraged to put their inventories up so people at home can throw them some $$$

[Billy the Kidd]

It was great seeing you again at the show

[Big Daddy]

more comics, less fat jokes.

 

I agree. Most people don't look the greatest in spandex so it takes even more courage to wear it while having fun at the shows. Fat jokes are about as politically correct as jokes about Jewish people or people of color and or race.

[oakman29]

Great report and pics.